Planting a seed for a contest

[joe_collector]

i still don't know why folks can't just abide by the rules that were laid out initially and STFU..........

 

 

well said, people always know the rules laid out beforehand, yet they STILL manage to complain. If you don't like the rules as they are laid out, don't play. People aren't forcing you to play.

 

I would like to note right here that when the contest started, the Bye Format was not clearly laid out, and it was several rounds before it was actually fully explained.

[Hobgoblin]

i still don't know why folks can't just abide by the rules that were laid out initially and STFU..........

 

 

well said, people always know the rules laid out beforehand, yet they STILL manage to complain. If you don't like the rules as they are laid out, don't play. People aren't forcing you to play.

 

I would like to note right here that when the contest started, the Bye Format was not clearly laid out, and it was several rounds before it was actually fully explained.

[Hobgoblin]

Besides, in NCAA golf, golfers do not get into negative scores very often. A good NCAA championship score for an individual would be about +3.

 

Why would I care what NCAA golfers score? Have you been drinking again?

 

Because NCAA sports are sports at their finest. It's not all about the money for 95% of them.

[FlyingDonut]

Besides, in NCAA golf, golfers do not get into negative scores very often. A good NCAA championship score for an individual would be about +3.

 

Why would I care what NCAA golfers score? Have you been drinking again?

 

Because NCAA sports are sports at their finest. It's not all about the money for 95% of them.

 

 

 

Sooooooooooooo naive, young grasshopper. So naive.

[Hobgoblin]

Besides, in NCAA golf, golfers do not get into negative scores very often. A good NCAA championship score for an individual would be about +3.

 

Why would I care what NCAA golfers score? Have you been drinking again?

 

Because NCAA sports are sports at their finest. It's not all about the money for 95% of them.

 

 

 

Sooooooooooooo naive, young grasshopper. So naive.

 

Me, naive? Do you realize how very few college athletes actually make it to professional sports?

[Lazyboy]

Besides, in NCAA golf, golfers do not get into negative scores very often. A good NCAA championship score for an individual would be about +3.

 

Why would I care what NCAA golfers score? Have you been drinking again?

 

Because NCAA sports are sports at their finest. It's not all about the money for 95% of them.

 

 

 

Sooooooooooooo naive, young grasshopper. So naive.

 

What? You mean they don't do it just for the love of the game?

[Jack Anderson]

While either contest type is fair, a non-seeded match play contest brings more luck into play because (as was noted earlier), you could be one grade away and get cut while someone who was three grades away moves on.

 

One possibility is a double-elimination match-play type event is to have a first round where all 64 players are randomly assigned opponents. After the first round, the field splits to a winner's bracket and loser's bracket. Both these brackets can be seeded using the results from previous rounds. Two losses and you're out. I think that takes some of the "luck of the draw" out of it.

 

If that can't work, I'd go more for the point based contest that was talked about, with a point being awarded for each grade you're off by, and the lowest score after X rounds wins. While you can add a cut half-way through, it's not really necessary since having a contest round with 200 players doesn't take up any more time than a contest round with 100 players.

[FlyingDonut]

Not to wander TOO far off topic, but this is pretty appropriate. Yeah, there's no money issues in NCAA sports. Right.

 

 

Wheeler's mom fighting a lonely battle

 

July 14, 2005

 

BY GREG COUCH SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement

 

She's just one woman. One who lives a few blocks from the tracks. She doesn't have much money and is standing there alone against so many of the most powerful elements of our society. A great university, Northwestern, our out-of-control college sports culture and even our court system. They have worked in harmony to paint her as an unfit mother and emotional ruin.

 

Linda Will is none of those things.

 

She's a hero.

 

She has fought the unwinnable fight over the death of her son, former Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler. He died four years ago of an asthma attack, the Cook County coroner declared, while the team was running an illegal practice. His attack was misdiagnosed and mistreated by team trainers. The school says he killed himself by taking a banned dietary supplement containing ephedra, part of the team's rampant substance-abuse problem.

 

Long search for justice

 

 

 

For four years, Will has wanted justice, whatever that means. She is pursuing a wrongful-death suit against Northwestern and has spent every moment trying to get her day in court. She wants her one small voice to be heard. Legal maneuvers have made that impossible, and on Monday, she must stand in front of a Cook County judge, who will consider a report from a court-appointed guardian that says Will is not acting in the best interest of her kids and should be removed as co-administrator of Wheeler's estate.

 

Do you know what makes her so unstable? So unfit?

 

She won't settle. They want to give her $16 million to shut up in an out-of-court deal, and she won't take it. The guardian seems to think that makes her insane. And they want to force her to take it.

 

"Whatever my motivation, I shouldn't have to justify it,'' she said. "Who is to put value on the loss of human life? Who says everything has to be settled? Who are you to tell me I'm so poor that I should be googly-goggly because you offered me this much money?''

 

One woman. There she is, and our system, which has come to a scientific conclusion that $16 million is the fair market value for a dead child, also seems to think it knows what makes a good mother. What do lawyers in $400 shoes know about that?

 

She just wants to be heard

 

 

 

Will is teaching her kids that you don't sell out at any price. And she's not a fit mother? She has fired her lawyers a few times because they don't understand.

 

But it's so simple: She wants people to hear her. She wants a football coach who runs a program with illegal practices and rampant substance abuse to be fired so he won't get his hands on anyone else's baby. She wants someone from Northwestern to stand up and say, "We're sorry,'' because all NU has said so far is that her son killed himself and that she's crazy and if we give you $16 million, would you be willing to agree with that? She wants a fund set up in her son's name to help other kids. She wants some sort of memorial for her son on campus.

 

And just maybe those things are worth more than $16 million to her.

 

If this thing gets to court, you wait and see what else crawls out from under the rocks of the NU football program.

 

"They don't want 70 student-athletes taking the stand,'' she said, "and showing just how deep this stuff goes.''

 

Northwestern does not acknowledge having agreed to this settlement. But all sides, except for Will, have been negotiating, and for some reason they've come to the conclusion that $16 million gets the deal done. Will and Wheeler's father are not a couple anymore, and the father apparently wants to settle.

 

Will's lawyers told her it might cost her $300,000 to go to court.

 

She said that was OK, she'd sell her house.

 

This one woman has been vilified while standing there with as much courage as we have ever seen. No one seems to understand her because our values say she should take the money, shut up and run. Our justice system is supposed to be there for one person, isn't it?

 

"How dare they try to use my grief and say I can't think clearly,'' she said. "I'm not on trial here.''

 

Oh, yes, she is. That's how this system has turned things. Her son is dead, and now the system is bullying her.

 

Would she take $50 million if they offered it? Would she take $100 million?

 

"I don't want to answer that,'' she said. "That's what is getting me in trouble.''

 

Does she seem confused at times? Sure, and who wouldn't be? She has been thrust into a world of power plays and can't find anyone to trust. She cries when you talk to her about her son. She keeps firing lawyers. She trusted attorney Johnnie Cochran, who was working for a percentage. But he died March 29, and the case went to his partners, who Will says want only to settle. So she fired them, too.

 

It's a lot of money, but that's her decision. On Monday, unless she names another attorney, she'll be alone, fighting nakedly for justice.

 

Whatever that is.

[Hobgoblin]

Flying Donut,

 

I never said money didn't play a part in NCAA sports. I'm not an insufficiently_thoughtful_person. You're right, it's all about money, especially to the schools and athletic deparments. What I WAS saying, is that the percentage of athletes who play college sports is overwhelmingly not in it for the money, but rather the love of the game.

 

Sure, there are all the football and basketball players who go pro and get paid millions, but compare that small number who actually succeed to the total number of football, baseball, softball, basketball, golf, swimming, track & field, hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, water polo, volleyball, bowling, and athetles from the all the other sports who play for the love of the sport and go into professional lives in real careers, not pro sports.

 

Haven't you ever seen that commercial that says "There are ####### thousand college athletes; most of which will go pro in something other than sports."

 

That was my point. I'm talking about those student-athletes who won't be going into professional sports, which is an overwhelming number compared to those that will. That's all I was talking about. Nothing more.

[joe_collector]

I'm talking about those student-athletes who won't be going into professional sports, which is an overwhelming number compared to those that will. That's all I was talking about.

 

You are very, very naive. Sure, only a few athletes make it pro, or go to the Olympics, or get an endorsement deal, but do you really believe that none of the others DREAM of making it?

 

If you ask hoop kids going away on college scholarships if they'll make the NBA, the vast majority will answer with an emphatic yes. Heck, half the playground players dream of the NBA and think they'll make it. These are not kids "playing for sport's sake" but those who dream of the big NBA $$$.

 

It's the same with Football, Track, Golf, Baseball, or virtually any sport with a secondary employment or endorsement avenue for the top players to move to. Most student athletes on scholarships have been "the best" in their city/town/area since they were little kids, and go to college holding that dream of a big $$$ contract or endorsement.

[mica]

Hey Nefaria, I like your contest and would be glad to be enrolled.

 

Hope it's OK for me to get the thread back on target.

Mild Mannered Mica

[Aces]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kiltman]

Hey Nefaria, I like your contest and would be glad to be enrolled.

 

Hope it's OK for me to get the thread back on target.

Mild Mannered Mica

I was just about to do that myself. I would be eager to participate too Nef! Or help if you need any

[mica]

 

 

[uclapeterg]

i still don't know why folks can't just abide by the rules that were laid out initially and STFU..........

 

 

well said, people always know the rules laid out beforehand, yet they STILL manage to complain. If you don't like the rules as they are laid out, don't play. People aren't forcing you to play.

 

We are abiding by ComicSupply's rules. This thread is intended to discuss a new possible contest.

 

I'm not talking about this present contest.

 

I am saying no matter how the rules are laid out, people will still complain, and agreeing with BB.

[Hobgoblin]

I'm talking about those student-athletes who won't be going into professional sports, which is an overwhelming number compared to those that will. That's all I was talking about.

 

You are very, very naive. Sure, only a few athletes make it pro, or go to the Olympics, or get an endorsement deal, but do you really believe that none of the others DREAM of making it?

 

If you ask hoop kids going away on college scholarships if they'll make the NBA, the vast majority will answer with an emphatic yes. Heck, half the playground players dream of the NBA and think they'll make it. These are not kids "playing for sport's sake" but those who dream of the big NBA $$$.

 

It's the same with Football, Track, Golf, Baseball, or virtually any sport with a secondary employment or endorsement avenue for the top players to move to. Most student athletes on scholarships have been "the best" in their city/town/area since they were little kids, and go to college holding that dream of a big $$$ contract or endorsement.

 

Tell me, out of all the college swimmers, divers, track & field competitors, bowlers, tennis players, and even golfers to some extent, do you really think that all of them want to be "pro?" I'm not the naive one here. A lot of them play for the love of the game and maybe to help pay for their education. Tell me, how much do you think a "professional swimmer" or "pro volleyball player" makes?

 

insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

Being on a college campus each of the past 7 years, I think I would know a little more about what I'm talking about than you. So you might want to get out of it now before I ask my friends playing baseball, tennis, and golf to join the boards and tell you how naive you are.

[Nefaria]

Wow there IS an interest. My goal was to try and create a contest that had support and no adversaries. I really couldn’t tell if there was an interest due to JC’s commentary . I know one of the faults that was brought up is that half of the contestants are eliminated in the first round. I guess one thing that could be added that shouldn’t slow the contest down but add some work is making it a double elimination. While I didn’t plan on using seeds in the 64 man contest, when you get knocked down to the loser’s bracket it could start as a seeded contest. What I mean is in the first round there are going to be 32 losers I’d start a 32 man bracket and match the people who missed it by the least to people who missed it by the most and so on to where some of the contestants probably missed it the same amount. Then in the end the winner of the losers division has to match up with the winner of the winners bracket. But the loser would have to beat the winner two times. And the winner of the winners div would only have to beat the winner of the loser’s div once. Whew.

[Hobgoblin]

I like the ideas that Aces provided. To add something, I'm thinking something to this effect:

 

You might not have to differentiate different "Par" values for the books, but the scoring could go something like this:

 

Nailed grade = Eagle (or hole in one for par 3) -2 points

One grade off = Birdie -1 point

Two grades off = Par 0 pts

Three or more off = Bogey +1 points

 

Just like golf! That what you had in mind JC?

[kiltman]

what about the dreaded double bogey?

 

And if you lose your ball....urm....grading guide?

 

etc

[joe_collector]

Tell me, how much do you think a "professional swimmer" or "pro volleyball player" makes?

 

insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

I just LOVE when people say such stupid things like this, thus proving they have the IQ of a snail.

 

Reread my comments again:

 

"Sure, only a few athletes make it pro, or go to the Olympics, or get an endorsement deal, but do you really believe that none of the others DREAM of making it?"

 

".... virtually any sport with a secondary employment or endorsement avenue for the top players to move to."

 

Does your brain have even the slightest inkling what kind of endorsements a US Olympic athlete can get, especially those from high-profile sports like Track and Swimming? And yes, even the Volleyball players can cash in. Do you also realize that the NCAA supplies a large percentage of the Olympic athletes?

 

HobGoblin, do you EVER think before you post?